Summary
- Overwatch 2 to introduce a hero ban system for Competitive Play matches to address community requests.
- Each player will have 3 slots to ban heroes with a priority system; the top 4 banned heroes will not be playable.
- The Overwatch 2 community is excited about the hero ban feature’s Season 16 debut, alongside map voting, the perk system, and Stadium mode.
Blizzard has announced new features on the way to Overwatch 2, including the hero ban system for Competitive Play matches. In a recent interview, Overwatch 2‘s director discussed the new hero ban system and described it as an obvious inclusion.
With the announcement of the highly-requested hero bans feature set to arrive, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller gave players more details on how it will work. He revealed that each player will have three slots to ban heroes under a priority system. After the 10 players have made their choices, the four heroes who receive the most votes will be banned from the match. The revelation of the hero ban feature’s inclusion in Season 16 was met with enthusiasm by the Overwatch 2 community, and now there’s more information shedding light on how this feature made its way into Overwatch 2.
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Speaking to Games Radar, Aaron Keller addressed the hero ban system, saying that the Overwatch 2 development team now believes it was an “obvious inclusion.” According to Keller, this feature has been debated for some time, but it was only two years ago that an internal prototype was created. The director of the Blizzard hero shooter noted that hero bans were planned to arrive in 2025, but they met some resistance. The stalemate came mainly from part of the community arguing that Overwatch 2 players favoring a specific character would be the most harmed if their main was routinely banned.
Hero Bans Are Increasingly Popular in Hero Shooters Like Overwatch 2
Character bans are familiar to Rainbow Six Siege players, which allow teams to veto one operator each. Following suit, Marvel Rivals made headlines not only for having this feature but for drawing attention to its chief competitor Overwatch 2‘s lack of a similar system. Meanwhile, it’s also become a point of discussion among fans of Valorant, which faces similar issues with its Agents. Recently, Apex Legends surprised its audience by making a similar move. In a blog post, developer Respawn Entertainment revealed that Year 5 of the Apex Legends Global Series will feature Legend bans.
This recent wave of announcements marks a shift in the hero shooter genre as its most popular titles implement systems that fans have long requested. Similarly, map voting is also on the way, addressing a long-standing complaint about Overwatch 2 players seeking more control over where they compete. Additionally, the reveal of the perk system and a new Stadium mode have been met with positivity, generating favorable reactions from players who believe that Overwatch 2 is finally earning its sequel status.
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
- Released
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October 4, 2022
- ESRB
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